Transmission method compatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulation, and apparatus

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a transmission method compatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulation, and an apparatus. A base station stores a first higher order modulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and a first lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation; the base station receives capability level information sent by user equipment; the base station determines, according to the capability level information sent by the user equipment, a first modulation mapping table used to communicate with the user equipment; the base station determines a modulation and coding scheme index according to the modulation mapping table, where the modulation and coding scheme index is used by the user equipment to determine a modulation and coding scheme; and the modulation and coding scheme index is sent to the user equipment.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Patent ApplicationNo. PCT/CN2014/091840, filed on Nov. 21, 2014, which claims priority toChinese Patent Application No. 201310598181.8, filed on Nov. 22, 2013,both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of communicationstechnologies, and in particular, to a transmission method compatiblewith higher order modulation and lower order modulation, and anapparatus.

BACKGROUND

A higher order modulation technology is a technology introduced toimprove a volume of transmitted data under the premise of not increasingtransmission bandwidth. At a present stage, in a Long Time Evolution(LTE) technology, generally, the highest order of the higher ordermodulation technology is 64 quadrature amplitude modulation (64QAM).With the development of technologies, compared with current 64QAM, atheoretical gain of 256QAM is 33%. In a 256QAM scenario, each resourceelement (RE) can carry 8 bits of data, and by comparison, in a 64QAMscenario, each RE can carry only 6 bits of data. Therefore, in a same REscenario, a volume of data that can be transmitted in 256QAM isincreased by 33% when compared with a volume of data that can betransmitted in 64QAM.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifies that both a basestation side and a user equipment (UE) side store a mapping table. Asshown in FIG. 1, the mapping table includes: a modulation and codingscheme (MCS) index (namely, IMCS), a modulation order, and a transportblock size index (TBS Index) (namely, ITBS). The base station sidenotifies the UE by sending the IMCS, so that the UE selects acorresponding modulation order and transport block size index from themapping table according to the IMCS, and performs subsequent dataprocessing. As can be seen from the mapping table shown in FIG. 1, inthe existing 3GPP specification, 256QAM is not supported. In FIG. 1,modulation order numbers 2, 4, and 6 represent QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAMrespectively.

In order to support 256QAM, in an existing technical solution, themapping table is directly modified, a total quantity of IMCSes in thetable shown in FIG. 1 still remains 32, and in the 32 modulation orders,some modulation orders are deleted and replaced by the newly addedmodulation order: 256QAM, so that the UE can transmit data by using themodulation order: 256QAM.

However, in the prior art, in a case in which the base station sideprovides a service to UE supporting 256QAM, a compatibility problem ofUE not supporting 256QAM is not considered. As a result, in the priorart, a base station cannot provide a service to both the UE supporting256QAM modulation and the UE not supporting 256QAM modulation; and oneof the UEs cannot demodulate data sent by the base station due to anincompatibility issue.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a transmission methodcompatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulation, andan apparatus, which can compatibly provide a service to UE supporting256QAM modulation and UE not supporting 256QAM modulation, therebyresolving a problem of incompatibility in the prior art.

A first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides atransmission method used by a base station to be compatible with higherorder modulation and lower order modulation, where the higher ordermodulation includes 256 quadrature amplitude modulation QAM, the lowerorder modulation includes at least one of 64QAM, 16QAM, and quadraturephase shift keying QPSK, and the base station stores a first higherorder modulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulationand a first lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lowerorder modulation, and the method includes:

receiving, by the base station, capability level information sent byuser equipment, where the capability level information is used toindicate that the user equipment supports the higher order modulation orsupports the lower order modulation;

determining, by the base station, according to the capability levelinformation sent by the user equipment, a first modulation mapping tableused to communicate with the user equipment, where the first modulationmapping table is the first higher order modulation mapping table or thefirst lower order modulation mapping table;

determining, by the base station, a modulation and coding scheme indexaccording to the modulation mapping table, where the modulation andcoding scheme index is used by the user equipment to determine amodulation and coding scheme; and

sending, by the base station, the modulation and coding scheme index tothe user equipment.

In a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect of theembodiments of the present disclosure, the determining, by the basestation, according to the capability level information sent by the userequipment, a first modulation mapping table used to communicate with theuser equipment includes:

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, determining, by the base station,that the modulation mapping table is the first higher order modulationmapping table, where the user equipment stores a second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation.

In a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect of theembodiments of the present disclosure, the determining, by the basestation, according to the capability level information sent by the userequipment, a first modulation mapping table used to communicate with theuser equipment includes:

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, and a signal to interference plusnoise ratio (SINR) is greater than an SINR threshold, determining, bythe base station, that the first modulation mapping table is the firsthigher order modulation mapping table; or

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, and a signal to interference plusnoise ratio (SINR) is less than an SINR threshold, determining, by thebase station, that the first modulation mapping table is the first lowerorder modulation mapping table, where

the user equipment stores a second higher order modulation mapping tablesupporting the higher order modulation and a second lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation.

With reference to the first aspect of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure or either of the first to second possible implementationmanners of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation mannerof the first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, whenthe user equipment stores the second higher order modulation mappingtable supporting the higher order modulation and the second lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation, themethod further includes:

receiving, by the base station, channel quality information reported bythe user equipment, where the channel quality information includes achannel quality indicator (CQI); and

determining, by the base station, according to the channel qualityinformation, whether to update the first modulation mapping table.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the firstaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, in a fourthpossible implementation manner of the first aspect of the embodiments ofthe present disclosure, the determining, by the base station, accordingto the channel quality information, whether to update the firstmodulation mapping table includes:

when the first modulation mapping table is the first higher ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is lessthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the base station, toupdate the first modulation mapping table, where an updated firstmodulation mapping table is the first lower order modulation mappingtable; or

when the first modulation mapping table is the second lower ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is greaterthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the base station, toupdate the first modulation mapping table, where an updated firstmodulation mapping table is the first higher order modulation mappingtable.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the firstaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, in a fifth possibleimplementation manner of the first aspect of the embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the method further includes:

sending, by the base station, first update information to the userequipment, where the first update information is used to instruct theuser equipment to update a second modulation mapping table, and thesecond modulation mapping table is used to communicate with the basestation, and is the second higher order modulation mapping table or thesecond lower order modulation mapping table.

With reference to the first aspect of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure or either of the first to second possible implementationmanners of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation mannerof the first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, whenthe user equipment stores the second higher order modulation mappingtable supporting the higher order modulation and the second lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation, themethod further includes:

receiving, by the base station, second update information sent by theuser equipment, where the second update information is used to instructthe base station to update the first modulation mapping table.

With reference to either of the fifth to sixth possible implementationmanners of the first aspect of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the firstaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first updateinformation or the second update information is carried by a radioresource control message.

With reference to either of the fifth to sixth possible implementationmanners of the first aspect of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the firstaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first updateinformation is transmitted by using a physical layer downlink controlchannel.

A second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides atransmission method used by user equipment, including:

sending, by the user equipment, capability level information to a basestation, where the capability level information is used to indicate thatthe user equipment supports higher order modulation or lower ordermodulation, where the higher order modulation includes 256 quadratureamplitude modulation QAM, the lower order modulation includes at leastone of 64QAM, 16QAM, and quadrature phase shift keying QPSK, and thebase station stores a first higher order modulation mapping tablesupporting the higher order modulation and a first lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation;

receiving, by the user equipment, a modulation and coding scheme indexsent by the base station, where the modulation and coding scheme indexis determined by the base station according to a first modulationmapping table, and the first modulation mapping table is the firsthigher order modulation mapping table or the first lower ordermodulation mapping table; and

determining, by the user equipment, a second modulation mapping tablefor communicating with the base station, and determining a modulationand coding scheme according to the second modulation mapping table andthe modulation and coding scheme index, where

the user equipment stores at least one of a second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and asecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation, and the second modulation mapping table is the second higherorder modulation mapping table or the second lower order modulationmapping table.

In a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect of theembodiments of the present disclosure, when the user equipment storesthe second higher order modulation mapping table supporting the higherorder modulation, the determining, by the user equipment, a secondmodulation mapping table for communicating with the base stationincludes:

using, by the user equipment by default, the second higher ordermodulation mapping table as the second modulation mapping table.

In a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect of theembodiments of the present disclosure, when the user equipment storesthe second higher order modulation mapping table supporting the higherorder modulation and the second lower order modulation mapping tablesupporting the lower order modulation, the determining, by the userequipment, a second modulation mapping table for communicating with thebase station includes:

when a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is greater than anSINR threshold, determining, by the user equipment, that the secondmodulation mapping table is the second higher order modulation mappingtable; or

when a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is less than anSINR threshold, determining, by the user equipment, that the secondmodulation mapping table is the second lower order modulation mappingtable.

With reference to the second aspect of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure or either of the first to second possible implementationmanners of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation mannerof the second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, whenthe user equipment stores the second higher order modulation mappingtable supporting the higher order modulation and the second lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation, themethod further includes:

sending, by the user equipment, channel quality information to the basestation, where the channel quality information is used by the basestation to determine whether to update the first modulation mappingtable, and the channel quality information includes a channel qualityindicator (CQI).

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the secondaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, in a fourthpossible implementation manner of the second aspect of the embodimentsof the present disclosure, the method further includes:

receiving, by the user equipment, first update information sent by thebase station, and updating the second modulation mapping table accordingto the first update information.

With reference to the second aspect of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure or either of the first to second possible implementationmanners of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation mannerof the second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, whenthe user equipment stores the second higher order modulation mappingtable supporting the higher order modulation and the second lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation, themethod further includes:

determining, by the user equipment, channel quality information, wherethe channel quality information includes a channel quality indicator;and

determining, by the user equipment, according to the channel qualityinformation, whether to update the second modulation mapping table.

With reference to the fifth possible implementation manner of the secondaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, in a sixth possibleimplementation manner of the second aspect of the embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the determining, by the user equipment, according tothe channel quality information, whether to update the second modulationmapping table includes:

when the second modulation mapping table is the second higher ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is lessthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the user equipment, toupdate the second modulation mapping table, where an updated secondmodulation mapping table is the second lower order modulation mappingtable; or

when the second modulation mapping table is the second lower ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is greaterthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the user equipment, toupdate the second modulation mapping table, where an updated secondmodulation mapping table is the second higher order modulation mappingtable.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the secondaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, in a seventhpossible implementation manner of the second aspect of the embodimentsof the present disclosure, the method further includes:

sending, by the user equipment, second update information to the basestation, where the second update information is used to instruct thebase station to update the first modulation mapping table.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of thesecond aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure or theseventh possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in aneighth possible implementation manner of the second aspect of theembodiments of the present disclosure, the first update information orthe second update information is carried by a radio resource controlmessage.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of thesecond aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure or theseventh possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a ninthpossible implementation manner of the second aspect of the embodimentsof the present disclosure, the first update information is transmittedby using a physical layer downlink control channel.

A third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure provides abase station, where higher order modulation includes 256 quadratureamplitude modulation QAM, and lower order modulation includes at leastone of 64QAM, 16QAM, and quadrature phase shift keying QPSK, and thebase station includes:

a first receiving unit, a determining unit, a first sending unit, and afirst storage unit, where

the first receiving unit is configured to receive capability levelinformation sent by user equipment, where the capability levelinformation is used to indicate that the user equipment supports thehigher order modulation or supports the lower order modulation;

the determining unit is configured to determine, according to thecapability level information sent by the user equipment, a firstmodulation mapping table used to communicate with the user equipment,where the first modulation mapping table is the first higher ordermodulation mapping table or the first lower order modulation mappingtable;

the determining unit is further configured to determine a modulation andcoding scheme index according to the modulation mapping table, where themodulation and coding scheme index is used by the user equipment todetermine a modulation and coding scheme;

the first sending unit is configured to send the modulation and codingscheme index to the user equipment; and

the first storage unit is configured to store a first higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and afirst lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation.

In a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect of theembodiments of the present disclosure, the determining, by thedetermining unit, according to the capability level information sent bythe user equipment, a first modulation mapping table used to communicatewith the user equipment includes:

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, determining, by the base station,that the modulation mapping table is the first higher order modulationmapping table, where the user equipment stores a second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation.

In a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect of theembodiments of the present disclosure, the determining, by thedetermining unit, according to the capability level information sent bythe user equipment, a first modulation mapping table used to communicatewith the user equipment includes:

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, and a signal to interference plusnoise ratio (SINR) is greater than an SINR threshold, determining, bythe base station, that the first modulation mapping table is the firsthigher order modulation mapping table; or

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, and a signal to interference plusnoise ratio (SINR) is less than an SINR threshold, determining, by thebase station, that the first modulation mapping table is the first lowerorder modulation mapping table, where

the user equipment stores a second higher order modulation mapping tablesupporting the higher order modulation and a second lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation.

With reference to the third aspect of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure or either of the first to second possible implementationmanners of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation mannerof the third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, whenthe user equipment stores the second higher order modulation mappingtable supporting the higher order modulation and the second lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation,

the first receiving unit is further configured to receive channelquality information reported by the user equipment, where the channelquality information includes a channel quality indicator (CQI); and

the determining unit is further configured to determine, according tothe channel quality information, whether to update the first modulationmapping table.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, in a fourthpossible implementation manner of the third aspect of the embodiments ofthe present disclosure, the determining, by the determining unit,according to the channel quality information, whether to update thefirst modulation mapping table includes:

when the first modulation mapping table is the first higher ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is lessthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the base station, toupdate the first modulation mapping table, where an updated firstmodulation mapping table is the first lower order modulation mappingtable; or

when the first modulation mapping table is the second lower ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is greaterthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the base station, toupdate the first modulation mapping table, where an updated firstmodulation mapping table is the first higher order modulation mappingtable.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, in a fifth possibleimplementation manner of the third aspect of the embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the first sending unit is further configured to sendfirst update information to the user equipment, where the first updateinformation is used to instruct the user equipment to update a secondmodulation mapping table, and the second modulation mapping table isused to communicate with the base station, and is the second higherorder modulation mapping table or the second lower order modulationmapping table.

With reference to the third aspect of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure or either of the first to second possible implementationmanners of the third aspect, in a sixth possible implementation mannerof the third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, whenthe user equipment stores the second higher order modulation mappingtable supporting the higher order modulation and the second lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation,

the first receiving unit is further configured to receive second updateinformation sent by the user equipment, where the second updateinformation is used to instruct the base station to update the firstmodulation mapping table.

With reference to the fifth possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure or the sixthpossible implementation manner of the third aspect of the embodiments ofthe present disclosure, in a seventh possible implementation manner ofthe third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the firstupdate information or the second update information is carried by aradio resource control message.

With reference to the fifth possible implementation manner of the thirdaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure or the sixthpossible implementation manner of the third aspect of the embodiments ofthe present disclosure, in an eighth possible implementation manner ofthe third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the firstupdate information is transmitted by using a physical layer downlinkcontrol channel.

A fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure providesuser equipment, including: a second sending unit, a second receivingunit, a second determining unit, and a second storage unit, where

the second sending unit is configured to send capability levelinformation to a base station, where the capability level information isused to indicate that the user equipment supports higher ordermodulation or lower order modulation, where the higher order modulationincludes 256 quadrature amplitude modulation QAM, the lower ordermodulation includes at least one of 64QAM, 16QAM, and quadrature phaseshift keying QPSK, and the base station stores a first higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and afirst lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation;

the second receiving unit is configured to receive a modulation andcoding scheme index sent by the base station, where the modulation andcoding scheme index is determined by the base station according to afirst modulation mapping table, and the first modulation mapping tableis the first higher order modulation mapping table or the first lowerorder modulation mapping table;

the second determining unit is configured to determine a secondmodulation mapping table for communicating with the base station, anddetermine a modulation and coding scheme according to the secondmodulation mapping table and the modulation and coding scheme index; and

the second storage unit is configured to store at least one of a secondhigher order modulation mapping table supporting the higher ordermodulation and a second lower order modulation mapping table supportingthe lower order modulation, where the second modulation mapping table isthe second higher order modulation mapping table or the second lowerorder modulation mapping table.

In a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect of theembodiments of the present disclosure, when the user equipment storesthe second higher order modulation mapping table supporting the higherorder modulation,

the determining, by the second determining unit, a second modulationmapping table for communicating with the base station includes:

using, by default, the second higher order modulation mapping table asthe second modulation mapping table.

In a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect of theembodiments of the present disclosure, when the user equipment storesthe second higher order modulation mapping table supporting the higherorder modulation and the second lower order modulation mapping tablesupporting the lower order modulation,

the determining, by the second determining unit, a second modulationmapping table for communicating with the base station includes:

when a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is greater than anSINR threshold, determining, by the user equipment, that the secondmodulation mapping table is the second higher order modulation mappingtable; or

when a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is less than anSINR threshold, determining, by the user equipment, that the secondmodulation mapping table is the second lower order modulation mappingtable.

With reference to the fourth aspect of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure or either of the first to second possible implementationmanners of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation mannerof the fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, whenthe second storage unit stores the second higher order modulationmapping table supporting the higher order modulation and the secondlower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation,

the second sending unit is further configured to send channel qualityinformation to the base station, where the channel quality informationis used by the base station to determine whether to update the firstmodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information includes achannel quality indicator (CQI).

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the fourthaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, in a fourthpossible implementation manner of the fourth aspect of the embodimentsof the present disclosure, the second receiving unit is furtherconfigured to receive first update information sent by the base station;and

the user equipment further includes: an updating unit, configured toupdate the second modulation mapping table according to the first updateinformation.

With reference to the fourth aspect of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure or either of the first to second possible implementationmanners of the fourth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation mannerof the fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, whenthe second storage unit stores the second higher order modulationmapping table supporting the higher order modulation and the secondlower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation,

the second determining unit is further configured to determine channelquality information, where the channel quality information includes achannel quality indicator; and determine, according to the channelquality information, whether to update the second modulation mappingtable.

With reference to the fifth possible implementation manner of the fourthaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, in a sixth possibleimplementation manner of the fourth aspect of the embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the determining, by the second determining unit,according to the channel quality information, whether to update thesecond modulation mapping table includes:

when the second modulation mapping table is the second higher ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is lessthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the user equipment, toupdate the second modulation mapping table, where an updated secondmodulation mapping table is the second lower order modulation mappingtable; or

when the second modulation mapping table is the second lower ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is greaterthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the user equipment, toupdate the second modulation mapping table, where an updated secondmodulation mapping table is the second higher order modulation mappingtable.

With reference to the sixth possible implementation manner of the fourthaspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, in a seventhpossible implementation manner of the fourth aspect of the embodimentsof the present disclosure, the second sending unit is further configuredto send second update information to the base station, where the secondupdate information is used to instruct the base station to update thefirst modulation mapping table.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of thefourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure or theseventh possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect of theembodiments of the present disclosure, in an eighth possibleimplementation manner of the fourth aspect of the embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the first update information or the second updateinformation is carried by a radio resource control message.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of thefourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure or theseventh possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect of theembodiments of the present disclosure, in a ninth possibleimplementation manner of the fourth aspect of the embodiments of thepresent disclosure, the first update information is transmitted by usinga physical layer downlink control channel.

As can be seen from the foregoing technical solutions, in theembodiments of the present disclosure, a base station stores a firsthigher order modulation mapping table supporting the higher ordermodulation and a first lower order modulation mapping table supportingthe lower order modulation; the base station receives capability levelinformation sent by user equipment; the base station determines,according to the capability level information sent by the userequipment, a first modulation mapping table used to communicate with theuser equipment; the base station determines a modulation and codingscheme index according to the modulation mapping table, where themodulation and coding scheme index is used by the user equipment todetermine a modulation and coding scheme; and the modulation and codingscheme index is sent to the user equipment. Therefore, according to thetechnical solutions provided in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure, a base station can compatibly provide a service to UEsupporting 256QAM modulation and UE not supporting 256QAM modulation,thereby overcoming a problem of incompatibility of a base station in theprior art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the presentdisclosure or in the prior art more clearly, the following brieflyintroduces the accompanying drawings required for describing theembodiments or the prior art. Apparently, the accompanying drawings inthe following description show merely some embodiments of the presentdisclosure, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may still deriveother drawings from these accompanying drawings without creativeefforts.

FIG. 1 is an example of a mapping table in the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a simple schematic flowchart of a transmission methodcompatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulationaccording to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a simple schematic flowchart of a transmission methodcompatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulationaccording to Embodiment 2 of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a simple schematic flowchart of a transmission methodcompatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulationaccording to Embodiment 3 of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is an example of a mapping table according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a simple schematic flowchart of a transmission methodcompatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulationaccording to Embodiment 4 of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a simple schematic flowchart of a transmission methodcompatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulationaccording to Embodiment 5 of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a simple schematic diagram of a base station according toEmbodiment 6 of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a simple schematic diagram of user equipment according toEmbodiment 7 of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a simple schematic diagram of a base station according toEmbodiment 8 of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 11 is a simple schematic diagram of user equipment according toEmbodiment 9 of the present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of theembodiments of the present disclosure clearer, the following describesthe technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosurewith reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Apparently, the described embodiments are somerather than all of the embodiments of the present disclosure. All otherembodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based onthe embodiments of the present disclosure without creative efforts shallfall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a transmission methodcompatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulation, andan apparatus, and the technical solutions mainly involve a networkapparatus (such as a base station) and user equipment. The base stationmay be a device that communicates with the user equipment (“UE” forshort) or another communications site such as a relay site. The basestation may provide communication coverage for a particular geographicarea. For example, the base station may be specifically a node B (NodeB, “NB” for short) in UMTS, or may be an evolved node B (EvolutionalNode B, “ENB” or “eNode B” for short) in LTE or LTE-A, or may be anotheraccess network device, in a wireless communications network, forproviding an access service, which is not limited in the embodiments ofthe present disclosure. The UE may be referred to as a terminal, amobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, or the like. For example,the UE may be specifically a cellular phone, a personal digitalassistant (“PDA” for short), a wireless modem, a wireless communicationsdevice, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, or thelike. The following uses an eNB as an example for description.

The embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail belowwith reference to specific embodiments.

Embodiment 1

This embodiment of the present disclosure provides a transmission methodcompatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulation. Asshown in FIG. 2, the higher order modulation in the method includes 256quadrature amplitude modulation QAM, and the lower order modulationincludes at least one of 64QAM, 16QAM, and quadrature phase shift keyingQPSK, a base station stores a first higher order modulation mappingtable supporting the higher order modulation and a first lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation, and themethod includes:

Step A1: A base station receives capability level information sent byuser equipment, where the capability level information is used toindicate that the user equipment supports the higher order modulation orsupports the lower order modulation.

The capability level information may be sent to an eNB in a networkconnecting phase of the UE, but this embodiment does not limit that amoment of receiving the capability level information is the networkconnecting phase of the UE, and the capability level information may bereceived in another process.

Step A2: The base station determines, according to the capability levelinformation sent by the user equipment, a first modulation mapping tableused to communicate with the user equipment, where the first modulationmapping table is the first higher order modulation mapping table or thefirst lower order modulation mapping table.

It should be noted that, the first higher order modulation mapping tablemay refer to a mapping table supporting 256QAM that is stored in thebase station and described in subsequent embodiments; and the firstlower order modulation mapping table may refer to a mapping table notsupporting 256QAM that is stored in the base station and described insubsequent embodiments.

A specific implementation manner of step A2 may be: when the capabilitylevel information indicates that the user equipment supports the higherorder modulation, determining, by the base station, that the modulationmapping table is the first higher order modulation mapping table, wherethe user equipment stores a second higher order modulation mapping tablesupporting the higher order modulation.

Another specific implementation manner of step A2 may also be:

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, and a signal to interference plusnoise ratio (SINR) is greater than (or equal to) an SINR threshold,determining, by the base station, that the first modulation mappingtable is the first higher order modulation mapping table; or

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, and a signal to interference plusnoise ratio (SINR) is less than an SINR threshold, determining, by thebase station, that the first modulation mapping table is the first lowerorder modulation mapping table, where

the user equipment stores a second higher order modulation mapping tablesupporting the higher order modulation and a second lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation.

The specific implementation manners of the foregoing step A2 aredescribed in subsequent embodiments with reference to specificembodiments.

Step A3: The base station determines a modulation and coding schemeindex according to the modulation mapping table, where the modulationand coding scheme index is used by the user equipment to determine amodulation and coding scheme.

The eNB acquires traffic volume information required by the UE and a CQIreported by the UE; after acquiring the CQI of the UE, the eNB convertsthe CQI of the UE into a corresponding SINR, and then determines a valueof an MCS index and values of a modulation order and a transport blocksize index according to a table of MCSes and SINRs.

Step A4: The base station sends the modulation and coding scheme indexto the user equipment.

Through the foregoing description of this embodiment, in the method, abase station stores a first higher order modulation mapping tablesupporting the higher order modulation and a first lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation; the basestation receives capability level information sent by user equipment;the base station determines, according to the capability levelinformation sent by the user equipment, a first modulation mapping tableused to communicate with the user equipment; the base station determinesa modulation and coding scheme index according to the modulation mappingtable, where the modulation and coding scheme index is used by the userequipment to determine a modulation and coding scheme; and themodulation and coding scheme index is sent to the user equipment.Therefore, both UE supporting 256QAM and UE not supporting 256QAM canaccurately determine a modulation and coding scheme index, so as toperform data transmission. Therefore, in the method provided in thisembodiment, an eNB can compatibly provide a service to UE supporting256QAM modulation and UE not supporting 256QAM modulation, therebyovercoming a problem of incompatibility of an eNB in the prior art.

Optionally, when the user equipment stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and thesecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation, the method further includes:

Step A5: The base station receives channel quality information reportedby the user equipment, where the channel quality information includes achannel quality indicator (CQI).

Step A6: The base station determines, according to the channel qualityinformation, whether to update the first modulation mapping table.

An implementation solution of determining, by the base station,according to the channel quality information, whether to update thefirst modulation mapping table in step A6 may be:

when the first modulation mapping table is the first higher ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is lessthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the base station, toupdate the first modulation mapping table, where an updated firstmodulation mapping table is the first lower order modulation mappingtable; or

when the first modulation mapping table is the second lower ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is greaterthan (or equal to) a channel quality threshold, determining, by the basestation, to update the first modulation mapping table, where an updatedfirst modulation mapping table is the first higher order modulationmapping table.

Optionally, the method further includes:

Step A7: The base station sends first update information to the userequipment, where the first update information is used to instruct theuser equipment to update a second modulation mapping table, and thesecond modulation mapping table is used to communicate with the basestation, and is the second higher order modulation mapping table or thesecond lower order modulation mapping table.

Optionally, when the user equipment stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and thesecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation, the method further includes:

Step A8: The base station receives second update information sent by theuser equipment, where the second update information is used to instructthe base station to update the first modulation mapping table.

The first update information or the second update information is carriedby a radio resource control message.

Alternatively, the first update information is transmitted by using aphysical layer downlink control channel.

Embodiment 2

This embodiment of the present disclosure provides a transmission methodused by user equipment. As shown in FIG. 3, the method includes:

Step B1: The user equipment sends capability level information to a basestation, where the capability level information is used to indicate thatthe user equipment supports higher order modulation or lower ordermodulation, where the higher order modulation includes 256 quadratureamplitude modulation QAM, the lower order modulation includes at leastone of 64QAM, 16QAM, and quadrature phase shift keying QPSK, and thebase station stores a first higher order modulation mapping tablesupporting the higher order modulation and a first lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation.

Step B2: The user equipment receives a modulation and coding schemeindex sent by the base station, where the modulation and coding schemeindex is determined by the base station according to a first modulationmapping table, and the first modulation mapping table is the firsthigher order modulation mapping table or the first lower ordermodulation mapping table.

Step B3: The user equipment determines a second modulation mapping tablefor communicating with the base station, and determines a modulation andcoding scheme according to the second modulation mapping table and themodulation and coding scheme index.

The user equipment stores at least one of a second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and asecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation, and the second modulation mapping table is the second higherorder modulation mapping table or the second lower order modulationmapping table.

It should be noted that, the second higher order modulation mappingtable may refer to a mapping table supporting 256QAM that is stored inthe UE and described in subsequent embodiments; and the second lowerorder modulation mapping table may refer to a mapping table notsupporting 256QAM that is stored in the UE and described in subsequentembodiments.

Through the foregoing description of this embodiment, in the method, theuser equipment sends capability level information to a base station, andreceives a modulation and coding scheme index sent by the base station;and the user equipment determines a second modulation mapping table forcommunicating with the base station, and determines a modulation andcoding scheme according to the second modulation mapping table and themodulation and coding scheme index, where the user equipment stores atleast one of a second higher order modulation mapping table supportingthe higher order modulation and a second lower order modulation mappingtable supporting the lower order modulation, so that an eNB cancompatibly provide a service for UE supporting 256QAM modulation and UEnot supporting 256QAM modulation, thereby overcoming a problem ofincompatibility of an eNB in the prior art.

Optionally, when the user equipment stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation, thedetermining, by the user equipment, a second modulation mapping tablefor communicating with the base station includes:

using, by the user equipment by default, the second higher ordermodulation mapping table as the second modulation mapping table.

Optionally, when the user equipment stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and thesecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation, the determining, by the user equipment, a second modulationmapping table for communicating with the base station includes:

when a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is greater than(or equal to) an SINR threshold, determining, by the user equipment,that the second modulation mapping table is the second higher ordermodulation mapping table; or

when a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is less than anSINR threshold, determining, by the user equipment, that the secondmodulation mapping table is the second lower order modulation mappingtable.

Optionally, when the user equipment stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and thesecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation, the method further includes:

Step B4: The user equipment sends channel quality information to thebase station, where the channel quality information is used by the basestation to determine whether to update the first modulation mappingtable, and the channel quality information includes a channel qualityindicator (CQI).

Optionally, the method further includes:

Step B5: The user equipment receives first update information sent bythe base station, and updates the second modulation mapping tableaccording to the first update information.

Optionally, when the user equipment stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and thesecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation, the method further includes:

Step B6: The user equipment determines channel quality information,where the channel quality information includes a channel qualityindicator.

The user equipment determines, according to the channel qualityinformation, whether to update the second modulation mapping table.

Optionally, the determining, by the user equipment, according to thechannel quality information, whether to update the second modulationmapping table specifically includes:

when the second modulation mapping table is the second higher ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is lessthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the base station, toupdate the second modulation mapping table, where an updated secondmodulation mapping table is the second lower order modulation mappingtable; or

when the second modulation mapping table is the second lower ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is greaterthan (or equal to) a channel quality threshold, determining, by the basestation, to update the second modulation mapping table, where an updatedsecond modulation mapping table is the second higher order modulationmapping table.

Optionally, the method further includes:

Step B7: The user equipment sends second update information to the basestation, where the second update information is used to instruct thebase station to update the first modulation mapping table.

The first update information or the second update information is carriedby a radio resource control message.

Alternatively, the first update information is transmitted by using aphysical layer downlink control channel.

Embodiment 3

This embodiment of the present disclosure provides a transmission methodcompatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulation,where the method is based on Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2, and is asolution reflecting interaction between multiple devices. As shown inFIG. 4, the method includes:

Step 101: UE sends capability level information to an eNB, where thecapability level information indicates whether the UE supports 256QAM ornot.

The UE may send the capability level information in a network connectingphase of the UE, but this embodiment does not limit that a moment ofsending the capability level information is the network connecting phaseof the UE, and the capability level information may be sent in anotherprocess.

Step 102: The UE sends channel quality information to the eNB, where thechannel quality information may be specifically a channel qualityindicator (CQI).

Step 103: The eNB receives the capability level information sent by theUE, and stores the capability level information.

Step 104: The eNB receives the channel quality information sent by theUE, and determines a modulation order and a TBS index according to thechannel quality information.

A specific operation of determining a modulation order and a TBS indexaccording to the channel quality information may be: acquiring, by theeNB, traffic volume information required by the UE, a CQI reported bythe UE, and a current resource condition of the eNB, and afterperforming a comprehensive analysis, determining the modulation orderand the TBS index.

Step 105: The eNB selects, according to the stored capability levelinformation and the determined modulation order and TBS index, a mappingtable corresponding to the capability level information, and determinesa modulation and coding scheme index (IMCS), where the modulation andcoding scheme index is used by the user equipment to determine amodulation and coding scheme. The selected mapping table correspondingto the capability level information may be understood as the “firstmodulation mapping table” in Embodiment 1.

If the capability level information sent by the UE indicates that the UEdoes not support 256QAM, the mapping table corresponding to thecapability level information that is selected by the eNB is a mappingtable not supporting 256QAM (or referred to as a common mapping table),as the mapping table shown in FIG. 1, which is the same as a mappingtable in the prior art.

If the capability level information sent by the UE indicates that the UEsupports 256QAM, the mapping table corresponding to the capability levelinformation that is selected by the eNB is a mapping table supporting256QAM (or referred to as a higher order mapping table), as the mappingtable shown in FIG. 5. Modulation order numbers (Modulation Order) M0,M1, . . . , and M31 in the higher order mapping table in FIG. 5 areanother representation manner of modulation orders represented by 2^(M)^(i) . The table may be understood as that: it is assumed that amodulation order determined by a base station side is QPSK (that is, anumber is 2, that is, M0 is 2), and a determined TBS index is 0 (thatis, T0 is 0), and then, an MCS index determined by the eNB is 0according to the mapping table shown in FIG. 5; or the MCS indexdetermined by the eNB is still 0, but the corresponding modulation ordernumber and the TBS index in the mapping table are different, that is, M0is 8 (that is, 256QAM), and T0 is 1. It may be understood as that whenthe MCS index is 0, (M0, T0) may have one or more values; similarly,when the MCS index is i, (Mi, Ti) may have one or more values, that is,the eNB determines a value of the MCS index according to an acquiredspecific value of (Mi, Ti) and according to the mapping table shown inFIG. 5, where a value of i is (0, 31).

Further, it should be further understood that, the mapping table shownin FIG. 5 is only an example for ease of understanding, and is notintended to limit this embodiment of the present disclosure.

Step 106: The eNB sends the determined modulation and coding schemeindex to the UE.

Step 107: The UE receives the modulation and coding scheme index,determines a modulation order and a TBS index according to the storedmapping table and the received modulation and coding scheme index, anddetermines a modulation and coding scheme.

It should be understood that, if the UE does not support 256QAM, themodulation and coding scheme index sent to the UE by the eNB is obtainedaccording to the mapping table not supporting 256QAM that is stored inthe eNB. Similarly, the UE receives the modulation and coding schemeindex, and compares the modulation and coding scheme index with themapping table not supporting 256QAM that is stored in the UE, todetermine a modulation order and a TBS index, so as to perform datatransmission.

If the UE supports 256QAM, the modulation and coding scheme index sentto the UE by the eNB is obtained according to the mapping tablesupporting 256QAM that is stored in the eNB. Similarly, the UE receivesthe modulation and coding scheme index, and compares the modulation andcoding scheme index with the mapping table supporting 256QAM that isstored in the UE, to determine a modulation order and a TBS index, so asto perform data transmission.

Further, if the UE supporting 256QAM receives the modulation and codingscheme index sent by the eNB, a mapping table stored in the UEsupporting 256QAM may be the same as the mapping table shown in FIG. 5.A simplest implementation manner may be that: in the mapping table shownin FIG. 5, when the MCS index is i, (Mi, Ti) has only one value;therefore, when receiving the modulation and coding scheme index sent bythe eNB, the UE supporting 256QAM may determine the value of (Mi, Ti).

When the mapping table stored in the UE supporting 256QAM is shown inFIG. 5, and the MCS index is i, (Mi, Ti) has more than one value, the UEsupporting 256QAM may further determine, according to channel qualityinformation (such as a CQI) measured by the UE, a specific value of (Mi,Ti) when the MCS index is i. The principle thereof is that: if thechannel quality information is relatively good, the specific value maycorrespond to a higher order modulation order, that is, Mi has twospecific values: 2 and 4, which correspond to QPSK and 16QAMrespectively, and if current channel quality of the UE is good, thespecific value of Mi selected by the UE is 4 (that is, the selectedmodulation and coding scheme is 16QAM), and the UE acquires a value ofTi by using a same method.

Through the foregoing description of this embodiment, in the method, UEfirst reports capability level information, where the capability levelinformation indicates whether the UE supports 256QAM or not, and the UEfurther reports channel quality information, used by an eNB to determinea modulation order and a TBS index according to the channel qualityinformation; and the eNB selects, according to the capability levelinformation and the determined modulation order and TBS index, a mappingtable corresponding to the capability level information, and determinesa modulation and coding scheme index. The modulation and coding schemeindex that is sent by the eNB and received on a UE side is a modulationand coding scheme index that is finally determined by the eNB accordingto a capability of the UE; therefore, both UE supporting 256QAM and UEnot supporting 256QAM can accurately determine a modulation order and aTBS index, so as to perform data transmission. Therefore, in the methodprovided in this embodiment, an eNB can compatibly provide a service toUE supporting 256QAM modulation and UE not supporting 256QAM modulation,thereby overcoming a problem of incompatibility of an eNB in the priorart.

Embodiment 4

This embodiment of the present disclosure provides a transmission methodcompatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulation. Themethod is similar to the method described in the foregoing Embodiment 3,and a difference lies in that UE supporting 256QAM described in thisembodiment not only stores a mapping table supporting 256QAM, but alsostores a mapping table not supporting 256QAM. In a case in which channelquality is relatively poor or a network side performs control, the UEsupporting 256QAM may also select the mapping table not supporting256QAM as a basis for data transmission. An advantage of the method isthat a total quantity of modulation and coding scheme indexes (IMCS) inthe mapping table supporting 256QAM that is stored in the UE supporting256QAM is the same as a total quantity of modulation and coding schemeindexes (IMCS) in the mapping table not supporting 256QAM, as shown inFIG. 1 and FIG. 5, that is, two mapping tables have a same totalquantity of modulation and coding schemes, and the total quantity is 32by using FIG. 1 and FIG. 5 as an example. Because some modulationschemes lower than 256QAM are deleted from the mapping table supporting256QAM, the mapping table supporting 256QAM and the existing mappingtable not supporting 256QAM may be specific to different channelquality, and for a same modulation scheme, there are different transportblock size TBS policies.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1, in the prior art, modulation schemes of0 to 9 use QPSK, and there are 10 QPSK schemes in total. Different QPSKschemes correspond to different transport block sizes TBS. Because inthe mapping table supporting 256QAM, some existing modulation and codingschemes such as QPSK are deleted, 256QAM is added. Therefore, schedulingextent increases in the prior art, and precise scheduling cannot beimplemented.

However, Embodiment 4 of the present disclosure is to resolve a problemthat the UE supporting 256QAM performs excessive scheduling, and precisescheduling cannot be implemented. The foregoing problem is resolved byalso storing the existing mapping table not supporting 256QAM in the UE.Specific solutions are as follows:

As shown in FIG. 6, the method includes:

Step 201: UE sends capability level information to an eNB, where thecapability level information indicates whether the UE supports 256QAM ornot.

The UE may send the capability level information in a network connectingphase of the UE, but this embodiment does not limit that a moment ofsending the capability level information is the network connecting phaseof the UE, and the capability level information may be sent in anotherprocess.

Step 202: The UE sends channel quality information to the eNB, where thechannel quality information may be specifically a channel qualityindicator (CQI).

Step 203: The eNB receives the capability level information sent by theUE, and stores the capability level information.

Step 204: The UE and the eNB determine an initial modulation mappingtable, where both the eNB and the UE include: a mapping table supporting256QAM and a mapping table not supporting 256QAM, and the initialmodulation mapping table is the mapping table supporting 256QAM or themapping table not supporting 256QAM.

The determining an initial modulation mapping table in step 204 may bespecifically using, by default, a mapping table not supporting 256QAM,or using, by default, a mapping table supporting 256QAM; or may bedetermining, by the UE and the eNB through negotiation, that a mappingtable supporting 256QAM or a mapping table not supporting 256QAM is theinitial modulation mapping table.

Step 205: The eNB receives the channel quality information sent by theUE, and determines a modulation order and a TBS index according to thechannel quality information.

Step 206: The eNB selects an initial modulation mapping table accordingto the stored capability level information and the determined modulationand coding scheme and TBS index, and determines a modulation and codingscheme index (IMCS).

Step 207: The eNB sends the determined modulation and coding schemeindex to the UE.

Step 208: The UE receives the modulation and coding scheme index, anddetermines a modulation order and a TBS index according to the initialmodulation mapping table and the received modulation and coding schemeindex, so as to perform data transmission.

Through the foregoing description of the method provided in thisembodiment of the present disclosure, in the method, UE first reportscapability level information, where the capability level informationindicates whether the UE supports 256QAM or not, and the UE furtherreports channel quality information, used by an eNB to determine amodulation order and a TBS index according to the channel qualityinformation; and the eNB selects, according to the capability levelinformation and the determined modulation order and TBS index, a mappingtable corresponding to the capability level information, and determinesa modulation and coding scheme index. The modulation and coding schemeindex that is sent by the eNB and received on a UE side is a modulationand coding scheme index that is finally determined by the eNB accordingto a capability of the UE; therefore, both UE supporting 256QAM and UEnot supporting 256QAM can accurately determine a modulation order and aTBS index, so as to perform data transmission. Therefore, in the methodprovided in this embodiment, an eNB can compatibly provide a service toUE supporting 256QAM modulation and UE not supporting 256QAM modulation,thereby overcoming a problem of incompatibility of an eNB in the priorart.

Further, in the method, the UE supporting 256QAM also stores a mappingtable not supporting 256QAM, so that the UE not only can implement datatransmission in higher order modulation, but also can implement precisescheduling.

Optionally, in an actual application, the eNB may control, according toa channel quality state, or a use condition of a radio resource, orother factors, to switch the initially determined modulation mappingtable. Therefore, the method may further include:

Step 209: The eNB sends a switching message to the UE supporting 256QAMmodulation, where the switching message may be understood as the “firstupdate information” described in Embodiment 1.

A specific implementation of sending, by the eNB, a switching message tothe UE supporting 256QAM modulation in step 209 may be: sending, by theeNB, a radio resource control (RRC) message, where the RRC messagecarries an instruction for switching a mapping table, and a specificoperation may be: adding a field to the RRC message to support switchingbetween two mapping tables. The described two mapping tables refer to: amapping table supporting 256QAM and a mapping table not supporting256QAM. An advantage of performing switching by using an RRC method isthat an existing protocol is least affected.

Alternatively, a specific implementation of sending, by the eNB, aswitching message to the UE supporting 256QAM modulation in step 209 maybe: sending, by the eNB, downlink control information (DCI) by using aphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH), where 1 bit may be added tothe DCI to instruct the UE to use one of the two mapping tables. Forexample, for a DCI format 1 and a DCI format 1A, 1 bit may be added to aTPC command for PUCCH field; or for a DCI format 2, 1 bit may be addedto a redundancy version field, where TPC is short for transmit powercontrol, and PUCCH is short for physical uplink control channel. Anadvantage of performing switching by using a PDCCH method lies inreal-time performance: real-time switching is supported.

It should be further understood that, the two tables on an eNB side or aUE side may be a large table, where the first half part of the largetable is a mapping table not supporting 256QAM, and the second half partof the large table is a mapping table supporting 256QAM. PDCCH payloadcontrol manner is used to instruct the UE supporting 256QAM to use amapping part supporting 256QAM or a mapping part not supporting 256QAMin the large table.

Optionally, in an actual application, when the UE stores a second higherorder modulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulationand a second lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lowerorder modulation, the method further includes:

Step 210: The UE determines channel quality information, where thechannel quality information includes a channel quality indicator.

Step 211: The UE determines, according to the channel qualityinformation, whether to update the second modulation mapping table.

The determining, by the UE, according to the channel qualityinformation, whether to update the second modulation mapping table instep 211 specifically includes:

when the second modulation mapping table is the second higher ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is lessthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the UE, to update thesecond modulation mapping table, where an updated second modulationmapping table is the second lower order modulation mapping table; or

when the second modulation mapping table is the second lower ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is greaterthan (or equal to) a channel quality threshold, determining, by the UE,to update the second modulation mapping table, where an updated secondmodulation mapping table is the second higher order modulation mappingtable.

Step 212: The UE sends second update information to the base station,where the second update information is used to instruct the base stationto update the first modulation mapping table.

The second update information is carried by a radio resource controlmessage. For example, the UE may request, by using an RRCreconfiguration request message, the base station to update the firstmodulation mapping table for the user; and the base station determines afinal modulation mapping table, and notifies the UE by using an RRCreconfiguration complete message, to implement consistency of modulationmapping tables of the base station and the UE.

The operation of controlling the UE to switch, by using a radio resourcecontrol RRC message or a physical downlink control channel PDCCH, amapping table that is described above is not exhaustive, but is anexample for ease of understanding. Another specific switching operationis not limited in this embodiment of the present disclosure.

Embodiment 5

This embodiment of the present disclosure provides a transmission methodcompatible with higher order modulation and lower order modulation, andthe method is similar to that in Embodiment 4, that is, UE supporting256QAM includes a mapping table supporting 256QAM (or referred to asimplicit mapping information, where the implicit mapping information maybe the mapping table supporting 256QAM), and the UE supporting 256QAMalso includes a mapping table not supporting 256QAM (or referred to asexplicit mapping information, where the explicit mapping information maybe the mapping table not supporting 256QAM).

A difference between Embodiment 5 and Embodiment 4 lies in that, in thisembodiment, the UE specifically determines implicit information by usingchannel quality information, such as a CQI, obtained by the UE throughmeasurement. A specific description is as follows:

As shown in FIG. 7, the method includes:

Step 301: UE sends capability level information to an eNB, where thecapability level information indicates whether the UE supports 256QAM ornot.

The UE may send the capability level information in a network connectingphase of the UE, but this embodiment does not limit that a moment ofsending the capability level information is the network connecting phaseof the UE, and the capability level information may be sent in anotherprocess.

Step 302: The UE sends channel quality information to the eNB, where thechannel quality information may be specifically a channel qualityindicator (CQI).

Step 303: The eNB receives the capability level information sent by theUE, and stores the capability level information.

Step 304: The eNB receives channel quality information sent by the UE,and determines a modulation order and a TBS index according to thechannel quality information.

A specific operation of determining a modulation order and a TBS indexaccording to the channel quality information may be: acquiring, by theeNB, traffic volume information required by the UE, a CQI reported bythe UE, and a current resource condition of the eNB, and afterperforming a comprehensive analysis, determining the modulation orderand the TBS index.

Step 305: The eNB selects, according to the stored capability levelinformation and the determined modulation order and TBS index, a mappingtable corresponding to the capability level information, and determinesa modulation and coding scheme index (IMCS).

If the capability level information sent by the UE indicates that the UEdoes not support 256QAM, the mapping table corresponding to thecapability level information that is selected by the eNB is a mappingtable not supporting 256QAM (which may also be collectively referred toas explicit mapping information), as the mapping table shown in FIG. 1,which is the same as a mapping table in the prior art.

If the capability level information sent by the UE indicates that the UEsupports 256QAM, the mapping table corresponding to the capability levelinformation that is selected by the eNB is a mapping table supporting256QAM (which may also be collectively referred to as implicit mappinginformation), as the mapping table shown in FIG. 5. Modulation ordernumbers (Modulation Order) M0, M1, . . . , and M31 in the higher ordermapping table in FIG. 5 separately represent modulation orders. Thetable may be understood as that: it is assumed that a modulation orderdetermined by a base station side is QPSK (that is, a number is 2, thatis, M0 is 2), and a determined TBS index is 0 (that is, T0 is 0), andthen, an MCS index determined by the eNB is 0 according to the mappingtable shown in FIG. 5; or the MCS index determined by the eNB is still0, but the corresponding modulation order number and the TBS index inthe mapping table are different, that is, M0 is 8 (that is, 256QAM), andT0 is 1. It may be understood as that when the MCS index is 0, (M0, T0)may have one or more values; similarly, when the MCS index is i, (Mi,Ti) may also have one or more values, that is, the eNB determines avalue of the MCS index according to an acquired specific value of (Mi,Ti) and according to the mapping table shown in FIG. 5, where a value ofi is (0, 31).

The implicit mapping information described above may be understood asthat the specific value of (Mi, Ti) is not obtained explicitly, instead,the UE needs to accurately determine (Mi, Ti) according to a channelquality condition or another determining condition; therefore, in thisprocess, (Mi, Ti) may be understood as implicit mapping information.

Step 306: Send the determined modulation and coding scheme index to theUE.

Step 307: The UE receives the modulation and coding scheme index, andthe UE selects one of the stored implicit mapping information and thestored explicit mapping information according to the measured channelquality information (or it may be understood that, the UE stores asecond higher order modulation mapping table supporting the higher ordermodulation and a second lower order modulation mapping table supportingthe lower order modulation, where the second higher order modulationmapping table is stored as implicit mapping information, and the secondlower order modulation mapping table is stored as explicit mappinginformation).

The UE may select one of the implicit mapping information and theexplicit mapping information according to the measured channel qualityinformation in step 307, and specifically, the UE may perform theselection according to a CQI, a signal to noise ratio, or another one ora combination of parameters that can reflect channel quality (which maybe collectively referred to as channel quality information).

When the channel quality information reflects that the channel qualityis higher than a threshold value indicating good quality, for example,when a CQI is greater than (or equal to) a threshold value indicatinggood channel quality, or a signal to noise ratio is greater than athreshold indicating good channel quality, the UE uses implicit mappinginformation, where the implicit mapping information may be specificallyan implicit mapping table, or implicit mapping information included in alarge table.

When the channel quality information reflects that the channel qualityis lower than a threshold value indicating good quality, for example,when a CQI is less than a threshold value indicating good channelquality, or a signal to noise ratio is less than a threshold indicatinggood channel quality, the UE uses explicit mapping information, wherethe explicit mapping information may be specifically an explicit mappingtable, or explicit mapping information included in a large table, andthe explicit mapping information may be specifically shown in FIG. 1.

Step 308: If the implicit mapping information is selected, the UEdetermines implicit information of a modulation order and a TBS indexaccording to the received modulation and coding scheme index and theimplicit mapping information, and determines the modulation order andthe TBS index according to the determined implicit information of themodulation order and the TBS index and the measured channel qualityinformation.

For an understanding corresponding to the operation of the foregoingstep 308, reference may be made to an example. For example, when theimplicit mapping information is selected, the implicit mappinginformation may use what is shown in FIG. 5 as an example, and thedetermining, by the UE, implicit information of a modulation order and aTBS index according to the received modulation and coding scheme indexand the implicit mapping information may specifically include: if themodulation and coding scheme index (IMCS) received by the UE is 1,according to the implicit mapping information shown in FIG. 5, thedetermined implicit information of the modulation order and the TBSindex being (M1, T1).

The determining, by the UE, the modulation order and the TBS indexaccording to the determined implicit information of the modulation orderand the TBS index and the measured channel quality information mayspecifically include: according to the determined implicit informationof the modulation order and the TBS index being (M1, T1) and the channelquality information (such as a CQI) obtained by the UE throughmeasurement, if explicit channel quality of the channel qualityinformation is good, determining, by the UE, that the modulation ordermay be a higher order, and a large transport block size may be selected;otherwise, a low modulation order and a small transport block size areselected. For the implicit information of (M1, T1) shown in FIG. 5,correspondingly, there are two cases of values, that is, (2, 6) and (4,9); if the measured channel quality is greater than (or equal to) asecond threshold value, it indicates that the channel quality is good,and the value of (M1, T1) is (4, 9), that is, the selected modulationand coding manner is 16QAM, and the transport block size (TBS) index is9. It should be understood that, FIG. 5 shows an example for ease ofunderstanding of the implicit mapping information, which is not intendedto limit this embodiment of the present disclosure. Particularly, itshould be understood that the implicit information such as (Mi, Ti) mayhave one or more values, which is not limited to a value in 2 of theexample in FIG. 5. More value divisions of the implicit information suchas (Mi, Ti) indicate more detailed divisions of channel quality, and thecorresponding UE may transmit data by using a modulation and codingscheme, which facilitates correct demodulation on a peer end.

Step 309: If the UE selects the explicit mapping information, the UEdetermines a modulation order and a TBS index according to the receivedmodulation and coding scheme index and the explicit mapping information.

Step 310: The UE performs data transmission according to the modulationorder and the TBS index that are determined in step 308 or step 309.

Through the foregoing description of this embodiment, in the method, UEfirst reports capability level information, where the capability levelinformation indicates whether the UE supports 256QAM or not, and the UEfurther reports channel quality information, used by an eNB to determinea modulation order and a TBS index according to the channel qualityinformation; and the eNB selects, according to the capability levelinformation and the determined modulation order and TBS index, a mappingtable corresponding to the capability level information, and determinesa modulation and coding scheme index. The modulation and coding schemeindex that is sent by the eNB and received on a UE side is a modulationand coding scheme index that is finally determined by the eNB accordingto a capability of the UE; therefore, both UE supporting 256QAM and UEnot supporting 256QAM can accurately determine a modulation order and aTBS index, so as to perform data transmission. Therefore, in the methodprovided in this embodiment, an eNB can compatibly provide a service toUE supporting 256QAM modulation and UE not supporting 256QAM modulation,thereby overcoming a problem of incompatibility of an eNB in the priorart.

Further, in the method, the UE supporting 256QAM stores, in a form ofexplicit mapping information and implicit mapping information, mappinginformation supporting 256QAM and mapping information not support 256QAMrespectively, so that the UE not only can implement data transmission inhigher order modulation, but also can implement precise scheduling.

Further, when the UE stores the second higher order modulation mappingtable supporting the higher order modulation and the second lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation, themethod further includes:

Step 311: The UE sends channel quality information, where the channelquality information includes a channel quality indicator (CQI).

Step 312: The base station receives the channel quality informationreported by the user equipment, where the channel quality informationincludes the channel quality indicator (CQI).

Step 313: The base station determines, according to the channel qualityinformation, whether to update the first modulation mapping table.

The determining, by the base station, according to the channel qualityinformation, whether to update the first modulation mapping table instep 313 includes:

when the first modulation mapping table is the first higher ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is lessthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the base station, toupdate the first modulation mapping table, where an updated firstmodulation mapping table is the first lower order modulation mappingtable; or

when the first modulation mapping table is the second lower ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is greaterthan (or equal to) a channel quality threshold, determining, by the basestation, to update the first modulation mapping table, where an updatedfirst modulation mapping table is the first higher order modulationmapping table.

Step 314: The base station sends first update information to the userequipment, where the first update information is used to instruct theuser equipment to update a second modulation mapping table, and thesecond modulation mapping table is used to communicate with the basestation, and is the second higher order modulation mapping table or thesecond lower order modulation mapping table.

The first update information may be carried by a radio resource controlmessage, or the first update information is transmitted by using aphysical layer downlink control channel.

Embodiment 6

This embodiment of the present disclosure provides a base station, wherein this embodiment, the higher order modulation includes 256 quadratureamplitude modulation QAM, and the lower order modulation includes atleast one of 64QAM, 16QAM, and quadrature phase shift keying QPSK. Asshown in FIG. 8, the base station includes:

a first receiving unit 801, a determining unit 802, and a first sendingunit 803, and a first storage unit 804, where

the first receiving unit 801 is configured to receive capability levelinformation sent by user equipment, where the capability levelinformation is used to indicate that the user equipment supports thehigher order modulation or supports the lower order modulation;

the determining unit 802 is configured to determine, according to thecapability level information sent by the user equipment, a firstmodulation mapping table used to communicate with the user equipment,where the first modulation mapping table is the first higher ordermodulation mapping table or the first lower order modulation mappingtable;

the determining unit 802 is further configured to determine a modulationand coding scheme index according to the modulation mapping table, wherethe modulation and coding scheme index is used by the user equipment todetermine a modulation and coding scheme;

the first sending unit 803 is configured to send the modulation andcoding scheme index to the user equipment; and

the first storage unit 804 is configured to store a first higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and afirst lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation.

Through the foregoing description of this embodiment, a base stationstores a first higher order modulation mapping table supporting thehigher order modulation and a first lower order modulation mapping tablesupporting the lower order modulation; the base station receivescapability level information sent by user equipment; the base stationdetermines, according to the capability level information sent by theuser equipment, a first modulation mapping table used to communicatewith the user equipment; the base station determines a modulation andcoding scheme index according to the modulation mapping table, where themodulation and coding scheme index is used by the user equipment todetermine a modulation and coding scheme; and the modulation and codingscheme index is sent to the user equipment. Therefore, both UEsupporting 256QAM and UE not supporting 256QAM can accurately determinea modulation and coding scheme index, so as to perform datatransmission. Therefore, an eNB can compatibly provide a service to UEsupporting 256QAM modulation and UE not supporting 256QAM modulation,thereby overcoming a problem of incompatibility of an eNB in the priorart.

Optionally, the determining, by the determining unit, according to thecapability level information sent by the user equipment, a firstmodulation mapping table used to communicate with the user equipmentincludes:

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, determining, by the base station,that the modulation mapping table is the first higher order modulationmapping table, where the user equipment stores a second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation.

Optionally, the determining, by the determining unit, according to thecapability level information sent by the user equipment, a firstmodulation mapping table used to communicate with the user equipmentincludes:

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, and a signal to interference plusnoise ratio (SINR) is greater than (or equal to) an SINR threshold,determining, by the base station, that the first modulation mappingtable is the first higher order modulation mapping table; or

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, and a signal to interference plusnoise ratio (SINR) is less than an SINR threshold, determining, by thebase station, that the first modulation mapping table is the first lowerorder modulation mapping table, where

the user equipment stores a second higher order modulation mapping tablesupporting the higher order modulation and a second lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation.

Optionally, when the user equipment stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and thesecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation,

the first receiving unit is further configured to receive channelquality information reported by the user equipment, where the channelquality information includes a channel quality indicator (CQI); and

the determining unit is further configured to determine, according tothe channel quality information, whether to update the first modulationmapping table.

Optionally, the determining, by the determining unit, according to thechannel quality information, whether to update the first modulationmapping table includes:

when the first modulation mapping table is the first higher ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is lessthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the base station, toupdate the first modulation mapping table, where an updated firstmodulation mapping table is the first lower order modulation mappingtable; or

when the first modulation mapping table is the second lower ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is greaterthan (or equal to) a channel quality threshold, determining, by the basestation, to update the first modulation mapping table, where an updatedfirst modulation mapping table is the first higher order modulationmapping table.

Optionally, the first sending unit is further configured to send firstupdate information to the user equipment, where the first updateinformation is used to instruct the user equipment to update a secondmodulation mapping table, and the second modulation mapping table isused to communicate with the base station, and is the second higherorder modulation mapping table or the second lower order modulationmapping table.

Optionally, when the user equipment stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and thesecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation,

the first receiving unit is further configured to receive second updateinformation sent by the user equipment, where the second updateinformation is used to instruct the base station to update the firstmodulation mapping table.

Optionally, the first update information or the second updateinformation is carried by a radio resource control message.

Optionally, the first update information is transmitted by using aphysical layer downlink control channel.

For a detailed description of the base station provided in thisembodiment, reference may also be made to Embodiment 1, Embodiment 3,Embodiment 4, and Embodiment 5 of the method, which is not describedherein again.

Embodiment 7

This embodiment of the present disclosure provides user equipment. Asshown in FIG. 9, the user equipment includes: a second sending unit 901,a second receiving unit 902, a second determining unit 903, and a secondstorage unit 904, where

the second sending unit 901 is configured to send capability levelinformation to a base station, where the capability level information isused to indicate that the user equipment supports higher ordermodulation or lower order modulation, where the higher order modulationincludes 256 quadrature amplitude modulation QAM, the lower ordermodulation includes at least one of 64QAM, 16QAM, and quadrature phaseshift keying QPSK, and the base station stores a first higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and afirst lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation;

the second receiving unit 902 is configured to receive a modulation andcoding scheme index sent by the base station, where the modulation andcoding scheme index is determined by the base station according to afirst modulation mapping table, and the first modulation mapping tableis the first higher order modulation mapping table or the first lowerorder modulation mapping table;

the second determining unit 903 is configured to determine a secondmodulation mapping table for communicating with the base station, anddetermine a modulation and coding scheme according to the secondmodulation mapping table and the modulation and coding scheme index; and

the second storage unit 904 is configured to store at least one of asecond higher order modulation mapping table supporting the higher ordermodulation and a second lower order modulation mapping table supportingthe lower order modulation, where the second modulation mapping table isthe second higher order modulation mapping table or the second lowerorder modulation mapping table.

Through the foregoing description of this embodiment, user equipmentsends capability level information to a base station, and receives amodulation and coding scheme index sent by the base station; and theuser equipment determines a second modulation mapping table forcommunicating with the base station, and determines a modulation andcoding scheme according to the second modulation mapping table and themodulation and coding scheme index, where the user equipment stores atleast one of a second higher order modulation mapping table supportingthe higher order modulation and a second lower order modulation mappingtable supporting the lower order modulation, so that an eNB cancompatibly provide a service for UE supporting 256QAM modulation and UEnot supporting 256QAM modulation, thereby overcoming a problem ofincompatibility of an eNB in the prior art.

Optionally, when the user equipment stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation,

the determining, by the second determining unit, a second modulationmapping table for communicating with the base station includes:

using, by default, the second higher order modulation mapping table asthe second modulation mapping table.

Optionally, when the user equipment stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and thesecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation,

the determining, by the second determining unit, a second modulationmapping table for communicating with the base station includes:

when a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is greater than(or equal to) an SINR threshold, determining, by the user equipment,that the second modulation mapping table is the second higher ordermodulation mapping table; or

when a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is less than anSINR threshold, determining, by the user equipment, that the secondmodulation mapping table is the second lower order modulation mappingtable.

Optionally, when the second storage unit stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and thesecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation,

the second sending unit is further configured to send channel qualityinformation to the base station, where the channel quality informationis used by the base station to determine whether to update the firstmodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information includes achannel quality indicator (CQI).

Optionally, the second receiving unit is further configured to receivefirst update information sent by the base station; and

the user equipment further includes: an updating unit, configured toupdate the second modulation mapping table according to the first updateinformation.

Optionally, when the second storage unit stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and thesecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation,

the second determining unit is further configured to determine channelquality information, where the channel quality information includes achannel quality indicator; and determine, according to the channelquality information, whether to update the second modulation mappingtable.

Optionally, the determining, by the second determining unit, accordingto the channel quality information, whether to update the secondmodulation mapping table includes:

when the second modulation mapping table is the second higher ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is lessthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the user equipment, toupdate the second modulation mapping table, where an updated secondmodulation mapping table is the second lower order modulation mappingtable; or

when the second modulation mapping table is the second lower ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is greaterthan (or equal to) a channel quality threshold, determining, by the userequipment, to update the second modulation mapping table, where anupdated second modulation mapping table is the second higher ordermodulation mapping table.

Optionally, the second sending unit is further configured to send secondupdate information to the base station, where the second updateinformation is used to instruct the base station to update the firstmodulation mapping table.

Optionally, the first update information or the second updateinformation is carried by a radio resource control message.

Optionally, the first update information is transmitted by using aphysical layer downlink control channel.

For a detailed description of the user equipment provided in thisembodiment, reference may also be made to Embodiment 2, Embodiment 3,Embodiment 4, and Embodiment 5 of the method, which is not describedherein again.

Embodiment 8

This embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a basestation, and a schematic structural diagram is shown in FIG. 10. Thebase station includes a memory 40, a processor 41, an input apparatus43, and an output apparatus 44 that are separately connected to a bus.

The memory 40 is configured to store data input from the input apparatus43, and may further store information such as a necessary file forprocessing data by the processor 41.

It should be understood that, higher order modulation includes 256quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and the lower order modulationincludes at least one of 64QAM, 16QAM, and quadrature phase shift keying(QPSK).

The input apparatus 43 is configured to receive capability levelinformation sent by user equipment, where the capability levelinformation is used to indicate that the user equipment supports thehigher order modulation or supports the lower order modulation.

The processor 41 is configured to determine, according to the capabilitylevel information sent by the user equipment, a first modulation mappingtable used to communicate with the user equipment, where the firstmodulation mapping table is the first higher order modulation mappingtable or the first lower order modulation mapping table; and determine amodulation and coding scheme index according to the modulation mappingtable, where the modulation and coding scheme index is used by the userequipment to determine a modulation and coding scheme.

The output apparatus 44 is configured to send the modulation and codingscheme index to the user equipment.

The memory 40 is further configured to store, by the base station, afirst higher order modulation mapping table supporting the higher ordermodulation and a first lower order modulation mapping table supportingthe lower order modulation.

Through the foregoing description of this embodiment, a base stationstores a first higher order modulation mapping table supporting thehigher order modulation and a first lower order modulation mapping tablesupporting the lower order modulation; the base station receivescapability level information sent by user equipment; the base stationdetermines, according to the capability level information sent by theuser equipment, a first modulation mapping table used to communicatewith the user equipment; the base station determines a modulation andcoding scheme index according to the modulation mapping table, where themodulation and coding scheme index is used by the user equipment todetermine a modulation and coding scheme; and the modulation and codingscheme index is sent to the user equipment. Therefore, both UEsupporting 256QAM and UE not supporting 256QAM can accurately determinea modulation and coding scheme index, so as to perform datatransmission. Therefore, an eNB can compatibly provide a service to UEsupporting 256QAM modulation and UE not supporting 256QAM modulation,thereby overcoming a problem of incompatibility of an eNB in the priorart.

Optionally, the determining, by the processor 41, according tocapability level information sent by the user equipment, a firstmodulation mapping table used to communicate with the user equipmentincludes:

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, determining, by the base station,that the modulation mapping table is the first higher order modulationmapping table, where the user equipment stores a second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation.

Optionally, the determining, by the processor 41, according tocapability level information sent by the user equipment, a firstmodulation mapping table used to communicate with the user equipmentincludes:

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, and a signal to interference plusnoise ratio (SINR) is greater than an SINR threshold, determining, bythe base station, that the first modulation mapping table is the firsthigher order modulation mapping table; or

when the capability level information indicates that the user equipmentsupports the higher order modulation, and a signal to interference plusnoise ratio (SINR) is less than an SINR threshold, determining, by thebase station, that the first modulation mapping table is the first lowerorder modulation mapping table, where

the user equipment stores a second higher order modulation mapping tablesupporting the higher order modulation and a second lower ordermodulation mapping table supporting the lower order modulation.

Optionally, when the user equipment stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and thesecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation,

the input apparatus 43 is further configured to receive channel qualityinformation reported by the user equipment, where the channel qualityinformation includes a channel quality indicator (CQI); and

the processor 41 is further configured to determine, according to thechannel quality information, whether to update the first modulationmapping table.

Optionally, the determining, by the processor 41, according to thechannel quality information, whether to update the first modulationmapping table includes:

when the first modulation mapping table is the first higher ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is lessthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the base station, toupdate the first modulation mapping table, where an updated firstmodulation mapping table is the first lower order modulation mappingtable; or

when the first modulation mapping table is the second lower ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is greaterthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the base station, toupdate the first modulation mapping table, where an updated firstmodulation mapping table is the first higher order modulation mappingtable.

Optionally, the output apparatus 44 is further configured to send firstupdate information to the user equipment, where the first updateinformation is used to instruct the user equipment to update a secondmodulation mapping table, and the second modulation mapping table isused to communicate with the base station, and is the second higherorder modulation mapping table or the second lower order modulationmapping table.

Optionally, when the user equipment stores the second higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and thesecond lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation,

the output apparatus 44 is further configured to receive second updateinformation sent by the user equipment, where the second updateinformation is used to instruct the base station to update the firstmodulation mapping table.

Optionally, the first update information or the second updateinformation is carried by a radio resource control message.

Optionally, the first update information is transmitted by using aphysical layer downlink control channel.

Embodiment 9

This embodiment of the present disclosure further provides userequipment, and a schematic structural diagram is shown in FIG. 11. Theuser equipment includes a memory 50, a processor 51, an input apparatus53, and an output apparatus 54 that are separately connected to a bus.

The memory 50 is configured to store data input from the input apparatus53, and may further store information such as a necessary file forprocessing data by the processor 51.

The output apparatus 54 is configured to send capability levelinformation to a base station, where the capability level information isused to indicate that the user equipment supports higher ordermodulation or lower order modulation, where the higher order modulationincludes 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), the lower ordermodulation includes at least one of 64QAM, 16QAM, and quadrature phaseshift keying (QPSK), and the base station stores a first higher ordermodulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulation and afirst lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation.

The input apparatus 53 is configured to receive a modulation and codingscheme index sent by the base station, where the modulation and codingscheme index is determined by the base station according to a firstmodulation mapping table, and the first modulation mapping table is thefirst higher order modulation mapping table or the first lower ordermodulation mapping table.

The processor 51 is configured to determine a second modulation mappingtable for communicating with the base station, and determine amodulation and coding scheme according to the second modulation mappingtable and the modulation and coding scheme index.

The memory 50 is configured to store at least one of a second higherorder modulation mapping table supporting the higher order modulationand a second lower order modulation mapping table supporting the lowerorder modulation, and the second modulation mapping table is the secondhigher order modulation mapping table or the second lower ordermodulation mapping table.

Through the foregoing description of this embodiment, user equipmentsends capability level information to a base station, and receives amodulation and coding scheme index sent by the base station; and theuser equipment determines a second modulation mapping table forcommunicating with the base station, and determines a modulation andcoding scheme according to the second modulation mapping table and themodulation and coding scheme index, where the user equipment stores atleast one of a second higher order modulation mapping table supportingthe higher order modulation and a second lower order modulation mappingtable supporting the lower order modulation, so that an eNB cancompatibly provide a service for UE supporting 256QAM modulation and UEnot supporting 256QAM modulation, thereby overcoming a problem ofincompatibility of an eNB in the prior art.

Optionally, when the memory 50 stores a second higher order modulationmapping table supporting the higher order modulation,

the determining, by the processor 51, a second modulation mapping tablefor communicating with the base station includes:

using, by default, the second higher order modulation mapping table asthe second modulation mapping table.

Optionally, when the memory 50 stores the second higher order modulationmapping table supporting the higher order modulation and the secondlower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation,

the determining, by the processor 51, a second modulation mapping tablefor communicating with the base station includes:

when a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is greater than anSINR threshold, determining, by the user equipment, that the secondmodulation mapping table is the second higher order modulation mappingtable; or

when a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is less than anSINR threshold, determining, by the user equipment, that the secondmodulation mapping table is the second lower order modulation mappingtable.

Optionally, when the memory 50 stores the second higher order modulationmapping table supporting the higher order modulation and the secondlower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation,

the output apparatus 54 is further configured to send channel qualityinformation to the base station, where the channel quality informationis used by the base station to determine whether to update the firstmodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information includes achannel quality indicator (CQI).

Optionally, the input apparatus 53 is further configured to receivefirst update information sent by the base station; and

the processor 51 is further configured to update the second modulationmapping table according to the first update information.

Optionally, when the memory 50 stores the second higher order modulationmapping table supporting the higher order modulation and the secondlower order modulation mapping table supporting the lower ordermodulation,

the processor 51 is further configured to determine channel qualityinformation, where the channel quality information includes a channelquality indicator; and determine, according to the channel qualityinformation, whether to update the second modulation mapping table.

Optionally, the determining, by the processor 51, according to thechannel quality information, whether to update the second modulationmapping table includes:

when the second modulation mapping table is the second higher ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is lessthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the user equipment, toupdate the second modulation mapping table, where an updated secondmodulation mapping table is the second lower order modulation mappingtable; or

when the second modulation mapping table is the second lower ordermodulation mapping table, and the channel quality information is greaterthan a channel quality threshold, determining, by the user equipment, toupdate the second modulation mapping table, where an updated secondmodulation mapping table is the second higher order modulation mappingtable.

Optionally, the output apparatus 54 is further configured to send secondupdate information to the base station, where the second updateinformation is used to instruct the base station to update the firstmodulation mapping table.

Optionally, the first update information or the second updateinformation is carried by a radio resource control message.

Optionally, the first update information is transmitted by using aphysical layer downlink control channel.

It should be noted that, in the foregoing embodiments, the descriptionof each embodiment has respective focuses. For a part that is notdescribed in detail in an embodiment, reference may be made to relateddescription in other embodiments. In addition, in this specification,relational terms such as first and second are only used to distinguishone entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require orimply that any actual relationship or sequence exists between theseentities or operations. Moreover, the terms “include”, “comprise”, ortheir any other variant is intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion,so that a process, a method, an article, or a device that includes alist of elements not only includes those elements but also includesother elements which are not expressly listed, or further includeselements inherent to such process, method, article, or device. Anelement limited by “includes a . . . ” does not, without moreconstraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements inthe process, method, article, or device that includes the element.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or some ofthe steps of the methods in the embodiments may be implemented by aprogram instructing relevant hardware. The program may be stored in acomputer readable storage medium. The storage medium may include: aread-only memory, a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

The foregoing describes in detail a transmission method compatible withhigher order modulation and lower order modulation, and an apparatusprovided in the present disclosure. A person of ordinary skill in theart may make alterations to specific implementation manners andapplication scopes based on the idea of the embodiments of the presentdisclosure. In conclusion, content of this specification shall not beunderstood as a limitation to the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A transmission method supporting higher ordermodulation and lower order modulation, the method comprising: receiving,by a base station, capability level information from a user equipment,wherein the capability level information is used to indicate that theuser equipment supports higher order modulation or supports lower ordermodulation, wherein the higher order modulation comprises 256 quadratureamplitude modulation (QAM), the lower order modulation comprises atleast one of 64QAM, 16QAM, and quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK);selecting, by the base station according to the capability levelinformation, a modulation mapping table used to communicate with theuser equipment from a higher order modulation mapping table and a lowerorder modulation mapping table, wherein the higher order modulationmapping table and the lower order modulation mapping table are stored inthe base station, the higher order modulation mapping table supportingthe higher order modulation, the lower order modulation mapping tablesupporting the lower order modulation; determining, by the base station,a modulation and coding scheme index according to the selectedmodulation mapping table, wherein the modulation and coding scheme indexindicates a modulation and coding scheme; sending, by the base station,the modulation and coding scheme index to the user equipment; receiving,by the base station, channel quality information reported by the userequipment, wherein the channel quality information comprises a channelquality indicator (CQI); and determining, by the base station, accordingto the channel quality information, whether to update selection of thehigher order modulation mapping table or the lower order modulationmapping table as the modulation mapping table used to communicate withthe user equipment.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein theselecting, by the base station according to the capability levelinformation, the modulation mapping table used to communicate with theuser equipment from the higher order modulation mapping table and thelower order modulation mapping table comprises: selecting, by the basestation, the higher order modulation mapping table to communicate withthe user equipment in a case that the capability level informationindicates that the user equipment supports the higher order modulation.3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting, by the basestation according to the capability level information, the modulationmapping table used to communicate with the user equipment from thehigher order modulation mapping table and the lower order modulationmapping table comprises: selecting, by the base station, the higherorder modulation mapping table to communicate with the user equipment ina case that in a case that the capability level information indicatesthat the user equipment supports the higher order modulation, and asignal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) is greater than an SINRthreshold.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting, bythe base station according to the capability level information, themodulation mapping table used to communicate with the user equipmentfrom the higher order modulation mapping table and the lower ordermodulation mapping table comprises: selecting, by the base station, thelower order modulation mapping table to communicate with the userequipment in a case that the capability level information indicates thatthe user equipment supports the higher order modulation, and a signal tointerference plus noise ratio (SINR) is less than an SINR threshold. 5.The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining, by the basestation, according to the channel quality information, whether to updatethe modulation mapping table used to communicate with the user equipmentcomprises: when the modulation mapping table used to communicate withthe user equipment is the higher order modulation mapping table, and thechannel quality information is less than a channel quality threshold,determining, by the base station, to update the modulation mappingtable, and an updated modulation mapping table is the lower ordermodulation mapping table.
 6. The method according to claim 1, whereinthe determining, by the base station, according to the channel qualityinformation, whether to update the modulation mapping table used tocommunicate with the user equipment comprises: when the modulationmapping table used to communicate with the user equipment is the lowerorder modulation mapping table, and the channel quality information isgreater than a channel quality threshold, determining, by the basestation, to update the modulation mapping table, and an updatedmodulation mapping table is the higher order modulation mapping table.7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: sending, by thebase station, first update information to the user equipment, whereinthe first update information is used to instruct the user equipment toupdate a modulation mapping table used to communicate with the basestation.
 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the first updateinformation is carried by a radio resource control (RRC) message.
 9. Themethod according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the basestation, second update information from the user equipment, wherein thesecond update information is used to instruct the base station to updatethe modulation mapping table used to communicate with the userequipment.
 10. A base station, comprising: a receiver, configured toreceive capability level information from a user equipment, wherein thecapability level information is used to indicate that the user equipmentsupports higher order modulation or supports lower order modulation,wherein the higher order modulation comprises 256 quadrature amplitudemodulation (QAM), the lower order modulation comprises at least one of64QAM, 16QAM, and quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK); a processor,configured to: select, according to the capability level information, amodulation mapping table used to communicate with the user equipmentfrom a higher order modulation mapping table and a lower ordermodulation mapping table, wherein the higher order modulation mappingtable and the lower order modulation mapping table are stored in thebase station, the higher order modulation mapping table supporting thehigher order modulation, the lower order modulation mapping tablesupporting the lower order modulation, and determine a modulation andcoding scheme index according to the selected modulation mapping table,wherein the modulation and coding scheme index indicates a modulationand coding scheme; and a transmitter, configured to send the modulationand coding scheme index to the user equipment; wherein the receiver isfurther configured to receive channel quality information reported bythe user equipment, wherein the channel quality information comprises achannel quality indicator (CQI); and wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to determine, according to the channel quality information,whether to update selection of the higher order modulation mapping tableor the lower order modulation mapping table as the modulation mappingtable used to communicate with the user equipment.
 11. The base stationaccording to claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to select thehigher order modulation mapping table to communicate with the userequipment in a case that the capability level information indicates thatthe user equipment supports the higher order modulation.
 12. The basestation according to claim 10, wherein the processor is configured toselect the higher order modulation mapping table to communicate with theuser equipment in a case that in a case that the capability levelinformation indicates that the user equipment supports the higher ordermodulation, and a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) isgreater than an SINR threshold.
 13. The base station according to claim10, wherein the processor is configured to select the lower ordermodulation mapping table to communicate with the user equipment in acase that the capability level information indicates that the userequipment supports the higher order modulation, and a signal tointerference plus noise ratio (SINR) is less than an SINR threshold. 14.The base station according to claim 10, wherein: the processor isconfigured to determine to update the modulation mapping table used tocommunicate with the user equipment in a case that the modulationmapping table is the higher order modulation mapping table, and thechannel quality information is less than a channel quality threshold,and an updated modulation mapping table is the lower order modulationmapping table.
 15. The base station according to claim 10, wherein: theprocessor is configured to determine to update the modulation mappingtable used to communicate with the user equipment in a case that themodulation mapping table is the lower order modulation mapping table,and the channel quality information is greater than a channel qualitythreshold, determining, by the base station, to update the modulationmapping table, and an updated modulation mapping table is the higherorder modulation mapping table.
 16. The base station according to claim10, wherein: the transmitter is configured to send first updateinformation to the user equipment, wherein the first update informationis used to instruct the user equipment to update a modulation mappingtable used to communicate with the base station.
 17. The base stationaccording to claim 16, wherein the first update information is carriedby a radio resource control (RRC) message.
 18. The base stationaccording to claim 10, wherein: the receiver is configured to receivesecond update information from the user equipment, wherein the secondupdate information is used to instruct the base station to update themodulation mapping table used to communicate with the user equipment.